Blogged live: Big Wave DEIR Study Session at Planning Commission

Blogged live from the Supervisors’ Chambers in Redwood City

The Pelican Eye: Jan. 27, 2010

Gail Slocum, Commissioner, Fourth District had questions for County Counsel regarding the sale of the four proposed office buildings.

She is attempting to better understand what will happen to the office buildings, the storage building and parking lot once they are sold.

Project Phasing

Camille Leung, County Planner said the Wellness Center and Office Park construction will be based on demand.

The developers plan to rough grade the whole site and put up one building at a time. The parking lot would also be phased to provide parking for the building constructed.

Phase One of Construction

Building A would be built first (building closest to Pillar Ridge) and parking lot to the north of building A (closest to Pillar Ridge).

Scott Holmes, Engineer for the Big Wave development said building A is for mixed use, light industrial so it might need less parking? He also said agricultural farming would continue while construction is in progress.

- Hard to imagine how all this multitasking would work for the farm.

Holmes said they plan to switch to organic farming and plan to continue farming during construction.

Camille Leung said, “The agriculture is proposed for the Wellness Center site.” Holmes said, “The farming would continue on both the Wellness Center and Office Park site.”

Dave Byers of McCracken, Byers and Richardson said, “A banker will decide how the sites will be used. The construction loan will decide how the land is farmed during construction. We intend to keep farming the land during construction.”

Leung said that if the office park was a flop the Wellness Center would still be built but would not serve low income developmentally challenged people. Leung then went on to say, “Those living on just SSI payments are below the poverty line.”

Holmes said, “The cost to lease office park space would be $3.00 per sq. ft. and the purchase cost would be 1.5 times higher.”

Holmes, “A tenant will be secured before the structure (Building A) is built. The building would be customized to fit the tenant/customer. Each building permit would shift depending on the needs of the tenant.”

Story Poles

Leung said, “The developer will start construction of the story poles next week.”

Liquefaction Concerns

Holmes, said they are going with deep pier foundations to prevent liquefaction in an earthquake. He said this would eliminate concerns about liquefaction. The deep pier foundation would not be used for the parking lot.

Holmes said, “One to five inches of differential settlement would not require the parking lot to be stabilized with deep pier foundation.”

GSD Pump Station

Slocum said, “GSD should do a study to see if capacity is a problem.”

Christopher A. Joseph & Associates (CAJA) said, an application for a sewer connection must be made and at that time the GSD engineer would tell the applicant what’s needed.

Holmes said they are not prepared to apply for a sewer permit at this time because they don’t want to pay for it. The developer plans to have the buyer of the office buildings pay for the sewer connections in phases (as the buildings are build/sold).

Emergency Evacuation and Sea Level Concerns

Slocum, “Who maintains the breakwater/jetty and how will repairs to the breakwater be paid for?” She also asked for more info on tsunami evacuation.

Bomberger, “Can water flow through the building?” Holmes did not have a direct answer except to say, “Water will drain from the building eventually.”

Housing Needs Allocation

Slocum asked for more information on housing allocation requirements.

Slocum, “Will more housing be required by ABAG if the office park is built?”

Planning Commission Site Visit

Tentative date for Site Field Trip the afternoon of March 8, 2:30pm.

The tentative March 10, 2010 Planning Commission hearing date requires a 10 day EIR review period.

- Release of the EIR is required 10 days prior to the Planning Commission hearing.

Parking Lot

Holmes, “First phase would be the mass grading. All pervious soil will come from the site with the exception of gravel.”

Sanitarium

Slocum, “Does this project qualify as a sanitarium?”

Leung, “I’m not sure we would need to look into that.”

Archeological Site

Leung, “Information about the revised location for the Wellness Center will be available in the DEIR.” This new revised location would not be on top of the archeological site.